And the Best One Wins
by Hopeakaarme
Summary: Sanada reflects on their loss in Kantou. Shounen ai SanaYuki.


Disclaimer: I own very little.

A/N: ...I've no idea what prompted me to write this pairing. Not that I don't believe them to be as close to canon as possible in this series, but...

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And the Best One Wins  


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Rikkai had lost. 

Having been humiliatingly defeated by Seigaku, they had lost the Kantou Tournament. Not only had they been unable to present their captain the medal before his surgery, but they also wouldn't be able to give it to him afterwards. Looking at Yukimura's calm face and explaining to him why they couldn't give him the championship in celebration of his successful operation was not something Sanada was looking forward to.

Still, he couldn't help but wish he could see Yukimura already.

He couldn't blame the others, though Kirihara and Renji both seemed more than willing to take the blame. After all, he had been the one to lose the deciding battle, thus sealing their defeat to Seigaku. If there was anybody who should be blamed for their humiliating loss, it was him. After such a mistake he was hardly even worthy of being the vice captain anymore.

Renji had disagreed, naturally, when he had told all this to the data player. It wasn't like Sanada had alone lost the tournament, Renji had reminded. If the others hadn't lost, Sanada would have never had to play at the first place. By the time his match had started, it had already been too late for them to make it for the captain's surgery. Simply losing hardly made him unfitting for a vice captain; after all, if it wasn't him, then who could take that place?

Sanada knew Renji was right, as he usually was. However, his mind was having a hard time accepting this fact. He often found it hard to accept facts when something was about Yukimura.

Sanada was well aware of the fact that his usually very dedicated mindset tended to be less than reasonable when it came to Yukimura. One smile from the gentle boy and he would change all his plans and decisions, ready to do whatever his captain asked him to. Being close to Yukimura made his hands itch as they wished to reach out and touch the silky hair, to rest on the frail shoulder and assure him it was going to be all right, to pick Yukimura up and carry him away from the hospital because somebody as strong and powerful as him didn't need to be in such a place.

Of course, he knew it was all just a silly fantasy. Yukimura was sick, badly so, and needed all the help the doctors could provide him with. Sanada was a fool to even dream otherwise, to wish that, just for once, they could meet somewhere else than the cold hospital. He still couldn't help the fact he didn't want any reminders of why his captain wasn't leading the team practice himself, why the three demons of Rikkai Dai had been diminished to merely two, their brightest light missing. Yukimura was strong, stronger than anybody else ever could be, even though his body had temporarily forgotten this fact. And while the captain couldn't be strong and win the matches for them, they would have to be strong for him instead. That was why they had first established their law never to lose.

Now they had broken that law. They had failed their captain.

They all knew Yukimura wouldn't be mad at them for breaking their promise to him. He would just smile and say it didn't matter, that they had done their best and that was the most important thing. He would tell them not to worry about it and that they would get back at Seigaku in the Nationals.

This, of course, made it all the worse.

Though an unequaled "demon" on the courts and a strict captain when need be, Yukimura was also a genuinely nice person. Sanada had sometimes heard people saying it had to be an act, that nobody could truly be that nice, but he knew otherwise. Though stern and strict when the situation called for it, the captain never failed to be kind and friendly to everybody. Of course, he also had a bad habit of saying things that might hurt others, not even realizing why others might be offended, but they all forgave him for that. It was simply that Yukimura was so nice and gentle that he didn't even assume somebody might be offended by what he viewed as the truth.

How could he now face this kind and gentle person, telling him they had failed to fulfill their promise and been thoroughly defeated, when he knew the response would be a kind smile and a remark that, obviously, they simply weren't good enough to stay undefeated yet?

This was, Sanada had to admit, true. It all meant they would have to work even harder. They wouldn't be the Kantou champions now, but they were still the last year's champion. Rikkai would battle their way through the tournament, and in the end, they would take the National championship, no matter who stood in their way.

After all, Yukimura deserved no less than the victory.


End file.
